Local

Snapshots From Fourth Day Without Power In Eastern U.S.

Related Tags:

TOWSON, Md. (AP) — At Ayd Hardware in Towson, a chalk sidewalk sign said in big letters “YES/DRY ICE.” That was enough to draw in Sheila Williams of the Lochearn area of Baltimore County, who happened to be driving by.

“I hate throwing all my food out. I’m trying to see if I can save some,” Williams said Tuesday, adding she could use the ice to chill frozen meats that had begun to defrost at her house that still lacks power. “I don’t care about the ice cream and the other stuff, but the meat is the most expensive.”

Williams lives with six relatives that include her husband, her adult daughter, two teenagers and two younger boys.

“They’re sleeping on the floor, sleeping everywhere trying to get some air,” Williams said. “We stay outside until it’s dark
and the mosquitoes eat us up.”

Ayd said he had pre-sold 10 of the 15 generators expected to arrive Tuesday, along with most of his batteries, power cords and flashlights.

Ayd also said he received a call this weekend that he had never received before in his 40 years in the business.

“Do I sell hand-held fans? No. Then, the next question was battery-operated fans,” Ayd said. “Then I said `You can make your own fan’ and I offered her a fly swatter.”

BACK AT WORK

Miranda Mines said she had just returned Tuesday morning to her job as a cashier at a Petco in Towson after spending all weekend without power in the Columbia home she shares with her roommate and her roommate’s four children.

Power lines across the driveway of her gated community — along with an inoperable gate — kept the 34-year-old from leaving.

“When asked how she spent the time, Mines laughed and said: “Slept.”

“And we played board games, that’s about it,” Mines said.

“The worst part was the first night, kids all screaming and crying,” she said. “After, you know, you’re used to it, it was
like camping.”

The home also didn’t have water because it is served by a well that lacked power for its pump. Fortunately, Mines said they had plenty of bottled water.

Friday’s storm took down some of the oldest trees in Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia.

The cemetery said Tuesday that the damage suffered during Friday’s storm was comparable to that inflicted by Hurricane Irene last year. Three of the oldest trees in the cemetery — two white oaks and a red oak estimated to be at least 225 years old — were lost in the storm, along with five other large trees. Another 17 were damaged to the point that they will have to be removed.

A small number of headstones were damaged by the falling trees.

The headstones will be replaced.

Arlington Cemetery is home to a significant number, of large, old trees, including three trees classified as state champions. The champion trees remain standing.